MID-ATLANTIC RHODODENDRON NEWS AND NOTES

Transcription

1 MID-ATLANTIC RHODODENDRON NEWS AND NOTES A Publication of the Middle Atlantic Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society Vol. XLIV No. 2 May 2017 CALENDAR OF UPCOMING MEETINGS October 20-22, 2017 Richmond Airport Hilton Garden Inn Rhododendron website addresses: American Rhododendron Society ARS Store Order from Amazon thru this site MAC Website (UPDATED REGULARLY) UVA Special Collections Old Quarterly Bulletins & JARS Rhododendron Blog Friends of the National Arboretum FONA s Save the Azaleas and Boxwood site MAC MEETING AT WINTERGREEN, May 12-14, On Friday, May 12, thirty MAC members headed into the rain and fog to a t t e n d o u r Don Hyatt and Jeanne Hammer on Friday evening. Photos by S. McDonald except when noted otherwise. previously. Our Friday evening s p e a k e r w a s landscape architect David Anhold who showed us some of his designs using native plants. The next day we were able to visit his project at Devil s Backbone Brewpub garden. S a t u r d a y morning after a m e e t i n g a t W i nt e r gr een Resort. We had the same nice meeting room that we had Jeanne with speaker David Anhold. great breakfast buffet we had a brief general meeting for our election. The following slate was elected: President Jeanne Hammer Vice President Theresa Brents Secretary Douglas Jolley Treasurer Debby Sauer Directors for 3 year term ending 5/20: Benjamin (David) Taylor Teri Bennett George McLellan Jim Brant gave a short report on the fires last fall in the mountains of N.C. The south slope was burned at Wayah Bald. However, the observation tower was built of stone and only the roof and other wooden parts were damaged. Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest was damaged, but the damage was mainly in an area where visitors do not go. Dollywood had some damage, but not nearly as much as the news had led Jim to believe. After the meeting we car-pooled on our site-seeing and plant-visiting trip. We visited the Wintergreen Nature Foundation and toured the native plant garden there. Then we went on to visit an ancient mass of interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana) on Wintergreen Drive. We visited Wintergreen Nature Foundation greenhouse where a sale of native plants was in progress and many members came away with Lilium canadense. Lunch was a very good buffet at Stoney Creek Bar and Grill. We toured Edible Landscaping Nursery where we saw many unusual

2 Touring Wintergreen Nature Foundation wildflower garden. Seated: Virginia and Dave Banks. Standing in center: Doug Jolley. Trillium at the wildflower garden. Ancient colony of interrupted fern at Wintergreen. Standing in the Nature Center: Barbara Hall, Debby Sauer, and Jeanne Hammer. Seated: Jim Brant and Phyllis Rittman. fruit trees and shrubs. We car-pooled back to Wintergreen where we had our plant auction and social hour. There was a truss display and book sale available. Another exceptionally good buffet followed. Professor Mary Jane Epps spoke to us after dinner. Her topic was Butterfly Wings and Pollen Thieves: The Natural History of Pollination in Flame Azaleas. It turns out that most of the Color in the fog by the interrupted fern. Photo Jeanne Hammer. pollinations of Rhododendron calendulaceum are apparently done by the flapping of butterfly wings as they visit the flowers. She is interested in doing more research on other species of native azaleas and was interested in talking with some members of our Species Study Group about locations of some of these. The meeting ended with our P4M Sale where there were some nice plants supplied by Dr. Jay 2

3 Gillenwater, and about one plant per person was available. Saturday evening speaker Professor Mary Jane Epps. Auctioneer Doug Jolley. Truss display. PASSING OF A FORMER MAC PRESIDENT Clifford Ray Doggett, 88, passed away Friday, May 19, Ray retired from the insurance industry having been with both the Gett Insurance Agency and the B. Vaughan Noble Insurance Agency, Inc. He is survived by his wife, Alice Newbill Doggett; son, Clifford Ray Doggett, Jr., wife Katie; daughters, Sherri D. Torode, husband Chuck; Jerri Morgan Doggett; sister, Patricia D. Colonna and husband William; and a host of other relatives. Ray was vice president of MAC when then president Terry Sheuchenko died on December 17, Ray Doggett, May 1998 at the JMU Arboretum. Photo S. McDonald. C. Ray Doggett Ray became president at that time and served out the remainder of Terry s term plus a full term of his own which ended at the Spring Meeting in Ray had arranged for MAC Board Meetings at the library in Henrico County for many years. In his later years when living in Gloucester Point, Ray was active in the Colonial Virginia Chapter of the Holly Society of America. IN THE CROZET GARDEN by Lloyd Willis As I start this on May 16, 2017, it is a beautiful day with full sunshine. The spring MAC meeting at Wintergreen is two days behind us but new and old friends seen at the meeting are on my mind. I am pleased that we had a successful meeting. Many thanks go to Jeanne Hammer and her helpers for all their work. Back in February of this year, we had 2 or 3 times during which we had quite warm days followed by quite cold days. The guess is that growth had started on the warm days followed Lloyd Willis by possible damage to the plants on the cold days. What plants in our garden 3

4 The Willis garden. Photo by Margaret Willis. A beautiful rhododendron in the Willis garden. Photo by Margaret Willis. showed the most damage this spring? Unfortunately, the answer was quite easy to find most of our damage was to the Japanese maples. Interesting to me was that both weeping and upright forms showed a range of damage from near zero visible damage to total death of the tree. We did dead tree removal, extensive tree shaping, and light limb removal. The pickup was filled and rounded with dead Japanese maple parts. (Since Mrs. Willis reads this article, I will not note the number of pickup loads that we did.) U n d e r happier news, most of the rhododendrons and azaleas appear to have no severe winter damage. However, some plants only produced two or three blossoms. This was offset by really full bloom in others. The American boxwoods seem to be in good shape. The replacement by Green Mountain boxwoods of the dwarf English box lost to the boxwood blight appears to be working so far. The spring planting of hostas is underway. Yesterday, one of the helpers put some Fire and Ice hostas in a new arrangement, edged, and mulched that plant bed. There is always joy for me in a reworked plant bed. So where is the humor in this article? Grandson Silas (age 9) is a paid employee of ours when he works in our yard. A couple of weeks ago, I asked him if he wanted to do weeding with me for the five dollar per hour pay he received last summer. Silas quickly answered, I would like to work for you and I have a way to make it easier for you. Just pay me six dollars an hour or one dollar for each ten minutes. That would make it easier for you to calculate my pay. Silas was placed on his new pay scale. He worked 70 minutes that afternoon. He stated that we made a good team as we weeded side-by-side. WINDBEAM WAY WANDERINGS, MAY 2017 by Doug Jolley Cornell Pink bloomed profusely in early March for nearly weeks. It and the accompanying daffodils were severely frozen. Days later in late March the plants of Gable s Early Bird and its associated s p r i n g b l o o m i n g companions bloomed for over a week and were Doug Jolley severely frozen in early April. Those early rhododendrons had nice seasons actually, given their early bloom dates. Often they are ruined just shortly after opening. Since early April, this has been one of the best spring seasons in memory. Trailing arbutus. Photo by Doug Jolley. 4

5 I was able to get out to remake acquaintances with Trailing Arbutus. After a few years of missing its fragrant flowers, I made a point to keep track of a nice patch and one of my visits was perfectly timed. This is one wild Erica that is more than reluctant to transplant so a home visit is a must. After a handful of unsuccessful attempts with our Yellow lady slippers. Photo by Doug Jolley. outburst which needed attention and direction. Pieris floribunda. Photo by Doug Jolley. native wild Pieris, one now is luxuriant in the shade house. It bloomed from early March through mid- April. Since pollinators are largely excluded from the plants within this structure, flowers of azaleas, lady slippers and this Pieris (Pieris floribunda) last for many weeks. Millie Mac. Photo by Doug Jolley. Davetta s and my efforts at growing native azaleas are drastically diminishing. We are converting growing beds to blueberries. Strawberries serve as their companions. Also, we spent the fall and winter drastically cutting down shrubs, trees, limbing up trees and having continual hot dog roasts from the resulting bonfires. We are restoring views out from the garden and letting light in for the remaining plants. Five years without deer (from a successful fence) resulted in a vegetative Fantastica. Photo by Doug Jolley. Again, not enough can be said by me about the plants for members program that our chapter offers. This year, the Fantastica obtained just a few meetings ago was magnificent. I picked up another one at our meeting at Wintergreen. Also, the native azalea selection Millie Mac which is six or seven years old is right in front of the yellow lady slipper bed. The lady slippers are the ultimate back drop for this azalea and as mentioned earlier; being in the shade house allows these flowers to bloom for weeks. At this writing, the mountain laurel beds are in their heaviest anthesis in a few years. Did I mention that this spring has been superb? Remember all photos can be seen in color and ENLARGED at MACARS.ORG. Click on Newsletter on left panel. 5

6 Carol Segree, Dave Banks, and Lloyd Willis at the Brewpub garden. Sitting around the fire pit at Devil s Backbone Brewpub. MAC members around the fire pit. Landscape architect David Anhold who designed this project with MAC members. David Anhold with Sharon Horn, Doug Burke and Bill Bedwell. MAC members at Devil s Backbone Brewpub.

7 The tour guide at Edible Landscaping Nursery who told us about all kinds of unusual plants they were growing. MAC members at Edible Landscaping Nursery. Fringe tree at Wintergreen. Photo by Doug Jolley. Rhododendron catawbiense at Wintergreen. Photo by Doug Jolley. Pink lady slippers with seed pod. Photo by Doug Jolley. Rock polypody fern. Photo by Doug Jolley.

8 GARDENS OPEN TO NEW MEMBERS - New members are encouraged to visit members gardens in their area. The officers and board members have agreed to show new members through their gardens if the member will call ahead and arrange a convenient time. Telephone numbers and towns are listed below. MIDDLE ATLANTIC CHAPTER OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS Memberships and renewals should be sent to our Membership Chairman Jeanne Hammer at 231 N Robinson Dr, Macon, NC Annual membership dues are $40 per year. Miscellaneous inquiries may be sent to the editor (address below) for forwarding to proper individual. Sandra McDonald, Ph.D., Editor Mid-Atlantic Rhododendron News and Notes 4302 Chesapeake Ave Hampton, VA 23669